Strategy Guide for Nevermore the Shadow Fiendby Jin537 (as of v6.60)

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Contents: Introduction About Nevermore Item Builds Skill Build Ingame Strategy Last Words FAQ's

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Introduction:

Well, I am beginning to write this guide as my summer vacation starts, which means I'll be on this computer alot. I have come to realise that Nevermore is one of the best heroes in

DotA. Not very easy to play, but very effective if played correctly. So by writing this guide, I hope its readers will enjoy this guide, own pubs and own clan wars.

On with the guide..

About Nevermore:

A demon of the burning legion so abhorred that he makes the skin of even his fellow demons crawl, Nevermore is a creature of the shadows that consumes the souls of those around him. When the Shadow Fiend comes forth to battle, he augments his power with

the souls he has consumed, bearing down on his enemies with spiritually enhanced attacks and powerful spiritual blasts. The Shadow Fiend is a terrifying opponent whom few have survived, and those who have perished under his tyranny have faced the most despicable

fate of all.

- Starting HP : 435- Starting MP : 234- Stats :

Str : 15 +2 per lvl Agi : 20 +2.4 per lvl Int : 18 +2 per lvl

- Attack time_____: 1.7s- Damage Point___: 0.50- Projectile Speed_: 1200

As you can see, Nevermore is also one of the easiest heroes to be killed in DotA because of his microscopic starting HP. He also has (imo) the best attack animation for a ranged hero which makes it very easy to farm, and a very fast moving burst of smoke. About the stat gains, I'd say they are well balanced; not bad Str gain for an agi hero and not a huge Agi gain either. Nevermore doesn't have something as strong as bash/rampage. He makes up for it with his insane DPS and -Armor aura. So he needs to have good stat gains.

For more accurate information on Nevermore, click here.Thanks to the amazing wiki team.

Item Builds:

I try not to give a strict item build to stick to. So im giving everyone a choice to pick the items they'd prefer having, so in order to complete your item build, you should start with the Core items, buy your first item, then buy your items afterwards. You should have an

orb item, a damage item and your situational/luxury items.

Core:(In this order.)

Starting gold in AP games is 603, so: Courier (225) + 2 Circlets (370) = 595 Gold spent.

Courier can be neglected if another teammate shares one with you. Nevermore is all about lane control early game, and you should be focusing on soul harvesting instead of running back every once in a while to shop or heal.

You get circlets to give you a couple extra stats for last-hitting and increasing your low HP/MP for lane survival.

If you are being frequently harassed, feel free to have the courier carry over a set of tangoes for you to heal up a bit.

You need to get bottle ASAP, the moment you have 600 gold, buy the bottle with courier and have the courier bring it over.

Remember to adapt. If you are facing a lane/team with nukers that you think can scrap you easily earlier on, get a few bracers (2-3 will do). Things not looking so dim? Feel like you're getting the upper hand? Use Wraiths to further more extend your dominance, and help for better last hitting along with Necromastery.

First Items:

3610G

- Lothar's Edge :Lothar's Edge is a 4050g quick way out, and a way to correctly position Requiem. Very costly for a first item, and also a big damage boost. You should still be farming for lothars before ganking midgame, it's a good item as it consists of not so expensive 1000g chunks. Also preferrable to grab a kill or two before Lothars, but don't gank too much before you can afford it.

2150G

- Kelen's Dagger :Dagger finally makes a comeback in the 6.5x Version of DotA. "Allows the bearer to blink up to 1200 distance away. Cannot be used if you have taken damage from a player-controlled unit in the last 3 seconds." Much better eh?

3910G

- Black King Bar :You need.. Strength, Damage, and Magic immunity. Guess what? BKB gives you just that!Can skip this as a starting item and maybe get it as luxury, depends on the situation.. adapt.

Items afterwards:(These are only your options, meaning you should have one of each type.)

1 - Orb Items:

4420G

- Stygian Desolator :Hard item to build as it consists of two 1.6k items and not a very cheap scroll, making it kinda difficult to build early. Yet very useful for you as it gives a total of -10 Armor reduction with your aura, also quite a damage boost. Buy this if you think you can pass up some survivability.

6150G

- Satanic :In this case, you have to build HotD right after lothars. However Reaver is not bought until you build a damage item, then you build satanic. It is great for survivability (+5 armor and +25 str) and great lifesteal to go with you extremely high DPS.

5800G

- Manta Style :I don't buy this often, but it is especially good when facing another carry (void, troll). Usually the ones that CAN beat you 1vs1. Manta solves this giving you a fair increase in your damage output, and buying you a couple of seconds while they figure out which one is real. Remember you have lothars or dagger. so manta can just be a distraction while you make your escape.

5000G

- Sange & Yasha :Mainly considered on Nevermore for the extra strength. Not bad ms/agi/dmg buffs either. I'm not a big fan of maim personally, but it's an option.

Pick one of these and move on to your damage item.

2 - Damage Items:

5800G

- Buriza-do Kyanon :An incredible item. Crystalys comes with an easy 2350G, making it one of the easiest items to build in my opinion. Farming for Demon Edge isn't that hard either. Provides +75 damage and a 2.2x Critical strike in 1 out of each 5 attacks you make, combined with your aura and maybe desolator, can deal rediculous blow damage.

5400G

- Monkey King Bar :MkB is 500G cheaper than Buriza. Both of them are matched in effectiveness on Nevermore. MkB provides the same +75 damage, 15% Attack speed, which buriza doesn't give, and a 30% chance to stop channeling spells by mini-stunning.

6000G

- The Butterfly :Getting this doesnt provide as much damage increase as the other damage items, it grants +30 agi and +30 damage, which adds up to 60 damage as Nevermore is an agility based hero.. The agi gain also increases your armor, and +30% evasion proves that the butterfly, as expensive it is, is built to improve your tanking abilities by not giving you pure hp, only damage and evasion. Works well with satanic to make you really hard to bring down.

3 - Situational/Luxury Items:

5500G

- Heart of Tarrasque :In most cases, if the game isn't ended fast, this item is a must for Nevermore. He has very low Str gain and hp. So HoT makes it a load easier to use Nevermore than it was. Grants nearly 1000 hp and 11 hp regen per second. Happy surviving.

2200G

- Boots of Travel :Lane jumping is a must if the game goes on, BoT provides just that. I won't explain the uses of BoT in my guide..

6650G

- Eye of Skadi :

The most expensive item in DotA (excluding divine rapier). Makes you a more formidable foe than you already are. Adds 25 to each stat, grants 200hp and 150mp, not to mention the infamous Frost attack.

5175G

- Linken's Sphere :Considered a mini-Eye of Skadi. Adds 15 to all stats, and gives a little regen.. Get this if you are facing a few annoying targeted spells.(Hex, Magic Missile, Shackles, etc.)

6050G

- Assault Cuirass :The super item. Gives you massive armor and attackspeed boosts, and gives a little of it to your surrounding allies. Also if combined with Desolator and your PotDL aura, adds up to -15 armor to your target. (the equivalent of lvl 3 Amplify Damage)

2350G

- Hood of Defiance :Rush hood right before/after Lothars if you are facing a team with a big arsenal of nukes. Gives good lanestaying ability due to getting the rings early.

1850G

- Power Treads (Strength) :In competetive gaming, Strength treads are bought for the early hp boost. I don't do this often though. A good SF player must know his role and be able to avoid focused fire.

Vs. There's no telling which is better. I shall just provide a list of facts.

Lothar's Edge :Pros:

Does not have a wait time, meaning you can use it at any time. Additional Damage bonus. Easier to position with. Overall better means of escape/positioning (In the absence of truesight).

Cons:

Fairly expensive (3610G). Counterable by truesight. Still makes you killable by blind hooks/AoE spells by smart adversaries.

Kelen's Dagger :Pros:

Much cheaper (2150G). No natural counter like truesight. More versatile and fun to use.

Cons:

No damage bonus. Trickier to position with, and leaves no room for hesitation. The need to wait 3 seconds after taking player-inflicted damage before it can be

used.

It's really up to you to choose, I've provided you a list with the items Nevermore could need.Try them out, see what fits, make your own solid build.

Remember to adapt to situations.

Skill Build:

With the not so recent shadowraze buff, it turned from an underrated, usually skipped spell into your main nuke early and mid game. In my guide, I will give shadowraze the

attention it should have without forgetting your necromastery, which is key to your lane control earlygame.

Level 1 - NecromasteryLevel 2 - ShadowrazeLevel 3 - Shadowraze

Level 4 - NecromasteryLevel 5 - ShadowrazeLevel 6 - NecromasteryLevel 7 - ShadowrazeLevel 8 - NecromasteryLevel 9 - StatsLevel 10 - Requiem of SoulsLevel 11 - Requiem of SoulsLevel 12 - StatsLevel 13 - StatsLevel 14 - StatsLevel 15 - StatsLevel 16 - Requiem of SoulsLevel 17 - Presence of the Dark LordLevel 18 - Presence of the Dark LordLevel 19 - Presence of the Dark LordLevel 20 - Presence of the Dark LordLevel 21 - StatsLevel 22 - StatsLevel 23 - StatsLevel 24 - StatsLevel 25 - Stats

This is a build that gives you what makes people call Nevermore a carry with Excellent lane control. It makes you an unstoppable laner against most lanes you will face (remember to

Adapt). At lvl 5 you start madly spamming shadowraze and abusing your bottle, while making sure you score some creep kills in the process. PotDL is learned after lvl 16 for

being enbeefed by stats, and to avoid enemies sensing your presence while ganking.

Items that work well for this build :

Adapting :

This is too important just to add it in misc strategy. What I mean by adapting is.. You don't just pick Nevermore and say : "This game, I'll try Desolator, then ill get Cuirass, then umm.. Buriza." That's just stupid. Every game, you must decide which items to build depending on the matchup you are facing, the strategy of the opposing team (If it is known), and finally

your teammates. Also don't hesitate to change your item plans depending on the gameflow itself. Experience will also teach you that you don't have to follow the skill build I offer exactly. I can't give experience, maybe you will learn to Adapt after winning a game then severely getting owned in the next one with the exact same build. Hopefully just by reading

this section.

InGame Strategy:

Early Game (1 - 9) :

Some heros might have a shorter earlygame (that endts at lvl 5-6), but in order to be effective, Nevermore must get more gold and skills before starting to gank or assist in team fights. So.. the game started, you picked/randomed Nevermore.. Start by buying 2 circlets, then chicken if no teammate provided one. Nevermore is preferrable to solo middle lane with to be able to use the terrain to your advantage, and gather as much souls and gold as possible. A perfect earlygame requires perfect last hitting, denying and lane domination with shadowraze and your insane Necromastery damage. Practice makes perfect, keep practicing last hitting and denying using Razr build, use The Necromancer build only when you see that you have become better at last hitting and denying, and you need to lvl up necromastery because you reached the soul max cap. I will try to post a replay of one of my perfect earlygames.

During earlygame, buy a bottle and let your chicken bring it as soon as you can afford it. If you have died once and find yourself respawning with 300-500G, make the circlets into a bracer or wraith. Bottle can be also used to capture runes. So this function must be used to its fullest. Stopping by the runes when they spawn is a huge boost to your earlygame preformance, and allows you to spam more as it fills up the bottle. So don't forget that. If everything goes well, and you do NOT die, keep the circlets as they are and rush lothars right before/after boots of speed. Usually I get

my Lothars after my first or second gank (succesful ones ofc). By getting your first item, you have announced the end of your earlygame.

Mid Game (10 - 16) :

This is the part of the game when you get your most kills. Always try to have the full 60 bonus damage from Necromastery. Make every Requiem count, don't overestimate yourself though, this has happened alot. You are not that much of a tank, ever. Correct requiem use will be explained in "Making your Entrance" section. By the end of mid game you should have completed your BKB, and possibly have some of your orb/damage/situational item.

Don't forget to farm. At this point, 2x shadowraze can kill creeps instantly. Gank as much as possible without passing up too much farming. Raze makes nevermore among the best farmers in DotA due to its blast range, meaning you can hit a non-moving target with 2 Razes. Happy farming.

(Shadowraze's range)

Late Game (16 - 25) :

After finishing up your damage items, you should focus on being unstoppable at this point. Ask yourself what is in your way and find the means to counter it. Manta > permabashers, BKB > Disablers, HoT > Nukers, BoT > Pushers. It is preferrable to wrap up games fast with Nevermore before losing effectiveness of your nukes.

Push lanes with shadowraze and BoT if you have it, or have a team push to finish it if possible. Don't forget to stop by neutrals/Roshan if you aren't in a hurry. Later into the game, even requiem loses its effectiveness in terms of damage, but it still means 25%slow and debuffs for a whole team. Nothing more to say about lategame except... Don't die. PLEASE don't die. It hurts Nevermore more than anyone. Sometimes you won't have the time to regain your souls incase you have to defend fast for example. Your role late game is to farm alot, and aid your team whenever necessary. Requiem is now a huge debuff for the enemy team, so you have to use it everytime you need to. Killing Roshan everytime he spawns is another thing. Also useful, but Never abandon your team for roshan/farming. That kind of decision might get you the Aegis, but it will also cause your defeat.

Misc. Strategies :(Look at titles, skip if familiar.)

- Early lane control :

Lane control with Nevermore is about getting your way. Being able to farm freely, deny frequently and keeping your enemy terrified by razing his ass off whenever you can. The correct way of establishing domination over your enemy is to harass and avoid being harassed. Harassing with Nevermore is easy, it varies between manually attacking and razing the opposing hero if they are melee or lanaya:D, and only razing the more fortunate ranged ones. You must learn to master shadowraze so as not to be fooled by someone who actually knows what they're doing. Last hitting is crucial to pour your wrath upon melee/stupid heros that get close enough for you to deliver a blow. Keeping your opponent's hp low makes it possible to 2x Shadowraze him for the kill, or killing with one shadowraze and a few attacks. Also (and this is the most common) makes them easily ganked. As for being away from danger, use the terrain to your advantage, only appear from the fog when you need to last hit/cast shadowraze. Other than that try to remain out of sight while not being out of the exp zone, which is a little behind your ranged creep.

- Mini Lothar's guide :

In this section I will demonstrate how to really have fun with Lothars. Erm.. Lothar's Edge is an item that gives a fair amount of extra damage which proves very useful the moment you build it. Also allows you to Wind Walk for 9 seconds with 20% Increased ms, which has a cooldown of 16 seconds. Lothars is the #1 positioning and escape mechanism. It is easily countered in more serious games with wards, which will be a problem. Here are some uses of Lothar's:

- Positioning :

This is what makes Lothar's Edge a main item for Nevermore, not just for escaping purpouses. It is to position yourself to unleash the full poetential of your Requiem. I'll

explain this in detail in my Mini-Requiem Guide.

- Chasing :

A very common use of Lothars. Takes advantage of the ms boost, or going past the other teammates who are here to save the one you want to kill. Just try to use the 9 second invis to its fullest, meaning don't come out of invis as soon as you see the target, keep running

some more so you are closer to him when you re-appear again.

- Escaping :

Don't laugh. Im not just going to say: "Click Lothars and run away" . Although that's pretty much it, don't wait too long to Wind walk just to annoy the opposing team. I've seen

shadow fiends die in a second becauese of doing that mistake. It has a cooldown of 16 seconds for gods sake. Abuse it. Keep in mind some AoE spells that can kill you in invis, so

when you use lothars, don't run in the right direction. Try to trick them into using their AoE spells in vain, so don't be getting in the way of any sonic waves, meteors or even

hooks/arrows. Some pudge/mirana experts have a sick way of knowing where you will be at that moment of time (excluding maphackers). So stay smart, don't think you are safe the

moment you are invisible.

- Fake escapes and turn-arounds :

This could be a little hard to understand, so I'll be as clear as possible. Think of a situation where you are exchanging hits and you need just one more hit to die, and 2 hits for you to kill your foe, and hes at melee range, but you already cast your Z-raze. Seems pretty clear

that you are the one that's going to lose this face-off (unless it's tiny ). But no, lothars makes it possible for you to win this one. Just use lothars and avoid any aoe spell he will fire off if there is one. Now he thinks you have escaped, and goes back to heal.. but you

have not escaped, You are standing right next to him.

Wait for him to run, so now he ordered his hero to move to his fountain. Position yourself for a shadow raze or just close enough for you to get a few attacks in for the kill. Most

players will take a second or two to react to this, and by the time they run to reach you, they'd be dead. so you have just bought 2 seconds that will hopefully get you the kill. I will

provide a GIF of this as soon as I can. This is often used in team fights just to shift someone's attention to an ally instead of you, just for a few seconds. This strategy is more

useful against melee heroes.

- Avoiding Death :

This is not a section about miraculously escaping tough situations. It's a section about Not getting into these situations in the first place. In most of your early/mid game, you are very likely to be ganked. At that point, since you can only take on other agi heroes that come alone (provided the situation was a fair 1v1), you will end up dying most of the time. So I'm forced to write this as Nevermore is a fiend that can't afford to die (most of the time).

- Without wards, you have to always be on your guard. It's better if your team calls missing heroes, but always keep an eye on the minimap, check it once every creepwave when you aren't busy lasthitting. Remember you are one of the most easily ganked heroes out there (Before Lothar's ofc). If you made it safely through earlygame, then comes midgame. Everyone is pushing, ganking frequently.. try to find a quiet lane to farm in, don't push too far though. Take extreme caution when drawing near an enemy tower. If you see there are a few heroes out of sight on the minimap, they are probably coming for you, so just back off, don't be greedy and go for the tower bounty. - Don't also push too far into their territory alone, if you sense you've pushed too far now, jungle a few. You'll see someone come to end your push/ gank you in a minute, and you'll

be glad you retreated to the jungle. When they head off to do whatever, you can return to the lane and farm some more. It's necessary not to feed if you have any sort of effectiveness later.- Hope this simple, yet very useful strategy has helped some people have more fun with Nevermore by having good starts, thus good items/games. Better safe than sorry.

Summary :

Your greed will be your downfall. Turn back if you feel you've pushed too far.

Using Shadowraze

A butcher guide must have a hook guide.. So my guide shall have a Shadowraze/Requiem guide. Shadowraze is one of the sexiest nukes in DotA: It's AoE, Low mana cost, Low CD & it's usable 3 times. Which means you have 900 damage nuking power at your disposal. This helps greatly with your lane control, and mid/late game farming.Let's look at the uses of Shadowraze:

- Lane Domination :

Use the wide AOE to harass starting from level 3, don't forget your bottle/runes.

You can X-Raze ranged heroes foolish enough to exchange hits with you, then walk up to them quickly and Z-Raze.

- Farming :

It gets annoying starting from minute 45. as the creeps gain enough hp to have a sliver left after you double nuke them.

Try to hit the ranged creep with one of the 2 nukes to land a lasthit right after.

- Hero Killing :

The same goes for hero killing, I don't have a screenshot for this, but here are some tips:

Always try Lothars > Z-Raze to save C-Raze for fleeing enemies. Runners will often go in a zig-zag to avoid your shadowraze. Either back off or

don't hesitate too much, as someone is probably coming for their aid. Always make sure you are facing the right direction.. Doesn't hurt if you kill a few creeps while damaging heroes.

Using Requiem

- First, I'll explain how requiem works. For every 2 souls Nevermore has stored, a line shaped carrion swarm is created, since you can store up to 30 souls, then the maximum lines are 15. Starting from 3 O'clock then going anti-clockwise in a star shape around Nevermore.

- Each line deals the indicated damage in the tooltip (80/120/160), which means you can poetentially deal x15 the stated damage if you stand right on top of your target (only

executable with invisibility). Pretty cool huh?

- So the main thing you should think about when trying to pull off a good requiem is positioning yourself in a position where you can deal outrageous damage to most of the opposing team, trying to deal the most damage to the most important member of their team.

- Tips :

Try to combine your requiem with a big AOE nuker/disabler. Watch for truesight, it can totally ruin you. Check the inventories of your enemies

for necro/gems. make good use of the slow. Try to pull it off when they are grouped, like attacking one of your structures.

Replay(s):This is a special replay which contains a bug, dunno if im allowed to post it, but I don't think it's abusable (minute 16-18). Where i lose my Lothar's Edge to an issue with circle of power. Overall, its a good game. Shows some skill with shadowraze, nothing very special. I DID get crazy sometimes, its a pub.. I managed to build another Lothar's and emerge victorious at the end. It was a close game, combined with losing 4k on lothars.. really an example of beating the odds. Enjoy.

Having trouble uploading this after i deleted it.

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